A Somebody's Heart
by Shado Tenshi
Summary: Sequel to A Nobody's Heart.Roxas is having black outs,before Axel could find out what the cause is,Roxas leaves to struggle down the path that may tear his relationship and family apart. But will a Roxas look-a-like from the past somehow help? AkuRoku
1. First Sign

Shado: Well here's the first chap of the sequel to A Nobody's Heart. I hope you enjoy this as much as you did with the first story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 1 **First Sign

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It's been five years. Five years since I started living here in Hollow Bastion. Five years in this lovely mansion with my big family. Xentshi had learned to talk, and walk. He's better at walking than Zaixou, which was to be expected. But he still helps her out by holding her hand cutely. The two were inseparable, whenever Zaixou started crying immediately Zexion, Demyx, and Xentshi are at her side calming her down.

A few years back we learned that Zexion couldn't have another baby. His wound from Xaldin's spears permanently damaged Zexion's reproductive system so he wouldn't be able to carry a second child. The news of course devastated Demyx, but Zexion even more. I had a feeling Zexion loved to have a second child, for I believe he had a thing for even numbers. Plus, I suspected he wanted a son too.

So, just to keep my friendship with Zexion, Axel and I decided not to have another child. Yes, we still do sex. But we were careful and used protection, after all Axel was still a horny dog. I just didn't want to have Zexion start feeling jealous or hide his jealousy to the point it drove him mad that I could have another child if I wanted to. At one point he asked me about it.

"Why don't you have another child? I can see it in your eyes, you just won't do it like you're avoiding another child like the plague." Zexion hissed at me.

"Because you're a friend. Your friendship is more important to me than having another child. Besides, Xentshi would have too much responsibility. He would help Zaixou more than a sibling, and it'd make me more stressed." I explained calmly to him.

He blinked, all sense of anger and jealousy gone. He continued to stare at me until he sighed, I caught a glimpse of a small smile forming.

"Sorry, I forgot how you treasure your friendship." Zexion smiled lightly.

"It's fine. At least I don't have to beat that fact into you." I couldn't help but tease.

"Shut up! It was only a one time deal!" he playfully whacked my arm.

"Oh right, and you just confessed you forgot!" I laughed, earning a rare pout from Zexion.

"Still, I at least didn't attack you." he crossed his arms.

"True. I think taking care of children has finally taken a tole on us." I sighed.

"Hm. I agree." Zexion nodded.

Now we're still good friends, helping each other out whenever either of us needed it. Of course this was only the first few years with the kids. I kind of feared the experience with them when they're in the teens, it was just a parental instinct that Xentshi would most definitely be like Axel when it came down with hormones. Still, I loved my son.

And now, it has been about five years since the end of Organization XIII, and I somehow felt a little empty inside. I didn't know why, or when I started to feel empty. But the feeling grew, and the change didn't go unnoticed. At first I was only becoming a little distant, but not something that was serious for anyone to ask questions. After all it was normal for me to become distant for a little bit.

Axel commented that I was often like a zombie when I became distant. That usually bright me back into the conversation, laughing a little. It was our private joke, you see, when I first joined the Organization I was pretty much a zombie. I wouldn't talk, I wouldn't smile, I just frowned and nodded when I understood what was going on. When I didn't understand however, I just avert my eyes and think about it, then whoever was mentoring me explained a little bit more on the detail until I understood.

Of course, now everyone started teasing me about the zombie thing. Really, I had hoped it would just be between me and Axel, but now everyone in the family teased me when I spaced out or didn't join in the conversation much. But of course, the first three months of the empty feeling, the zombie teasing was what brought me back from thinking on it. But as the feeling grew, the zombie teasing became less and less distracting.

But about three and a half months went by, and I was still distant. No matter what I did, the empty feeling never went away. I tried to tease Axel alot more, and I did enjoy the rough sex, but even that didn't fill in the emptiness. I played with Xentshi and Zaixou when they asked, and it was fun because they loved to play the Princess and the Knight. Xentshi was the knight, who protects Princess Zaixou from the big bad monster. Guess who's the monster. That's right. That's me. Yup. But it was still fun.

And when three months went and left there was no change, everyone started to worry.

"What's the matter Roxas?" someone asked everyday when I was thinking to myself. At first I would just reply "Nothing" and walk off. But then halfway throught that month Tifa became persistent, and I was reduced to just shrugging and ignoring her. That habit only increased for everyone who asked what was wrong. I didn't mean to make them irritated, but I didn't know how to explain this empty feeling. I wasn't even sure they would even understand.

"He's starting to become a Cloud Clone." Tifa once commented. And now that name stuck when I didn't give a clear answer to the everday question if I was all right. I really didn't like that nickname, sure, I sort of looked like Cloud, but not enough to be his clone for good's sake! Whenever someone openly called me 'Cloud Clone', I stomped my foot and walked away mumbling something about how to kill off Tifa secretly. But of course, I didn't kill Tifa.

Then one morning.

"Mommy, why is your eyes shiny?" Xentshi asked through a mouthful of cereal.

I blinked. "My eyes aren't shiny."

"Yesh dey are! Look! De're shiny!" Xentshi pointed with one hand, the other hitting the baby table he was sitting in.

Instantly Cloud was at my left, pulling my chin to meet his eyes. I could see fear form in his expression, when he stared at the hint of mako around my pupils. And before I knew it, I was pushed and pulled to Aerith's place. Axel tagging along just to make sure I wouldn't be harmed, plus I knew he wanted to know what was wrong with me. Soon I was standing in Aerith's living room, Cloud going haywire and Axel arguing with him.

It wasn't until Aerith shushed them both with a hard pinch on the cheek, did they go quiet. And I stood there, not really paying attention to what Aerith was doing while she inspected me. She circled around me, taking notice the distant look on my face and not caring I was caught in a circle of a lioness's den. Then she stood in front of me, set both hands on my shoulders, and pushed me down to sit on the couch behind me.

I didn't argue, only blinked in confusion at her. Aerith then proceeded to squat down to my eye level and stared into my eyes. I didn't look away, but even as I stared into her eyes, the emptiness lifted only just a little. But it was only a very tiny bit. Usually her eyes calmed me, but this time it was not so. She sensed my guilt, and stood up straight with a sigh.

"Roxas...what kind of dreams are you having at night?" she asked.

I shrugged, not wanting to explain anything about Aqua and Terra.

"You're lying."

I blinked.

"You look away when you're lying. What have you been dreaming?"

How could she tell the little signs I was lying? I only averted my eyes for a second.

"Roxas." I could tell she didn't want press on, but Aerith knew if she didn't there was no hope.

"...Keyblade masters from ten years past."

"Do you know their names?"

"There are too many to remember."

That was true, but Aqua and Terra stood out most. I just didn't want to bring up their names with Cloud and Axel in the same room.

"How many?"

"I'd say about a hundred or so." I shrugged.

"Hm..."

A few minutes of silence passed. Cloud sighed.

"What do we do?"

"Axel, I think it would be best both you and Roxas take a vacation off of work. I know its only every other weekend, but Roxas needs to take a few weeks off." Aerith explained.

"All right. Then what should I do?" Axel crossed his arms, leaning against the wall as he stared intently at her.

"Try and make him happy. Start with simple, then work your way up to the point where you know you can make him happy." she said with an assuring smile.

I blinked. I already tried that! I tried everything to be happy, or normal, but the empty feeling never left! She glanced at me, before taking a step back with a small frown. My eyes must have glowed a brighter green when I glared, not realizing that my eyes could even do such a thing. Then again I should have known this, for Cloud's changed color depending on what emotion he was going through.

"Roxas!" Cloud snapped his fingers in front of me.

I nearly jumped, blinking out of my glaring gaze to stare in confusion at him.

"How long has this been going on? This feeling of being empty?" Cloud asked.

I stared, realizing he knew what I was going through. After all, he had the same experience. I shrugged.

"Three and a half months maybe."

"And you didn't say anything...why?" Axel stepped forward, arms at his sides and I caught a hint of anger in his sharp, green eyes.

I gulped. "I tried to get rid of the feeling myself..."

"Please tell me you didn't do anything drastic that involves sharp objects?" he asked.

"Never!" I stood up, just about ready to cry from his intense gaze.

Realizing I was about to break down into tears, Axel immediately brought me into a protective embrace. Aerith decided to give us space and pushed Cloud with her to leave us be. When they were gone I whimpered, letting the tears flow. Axel nuzzled my cheek, cooing softly in an attempt to help calm me down. But no matter what he did, the tears kept coming until I cried myself to sleep about an hour later.

The weeks that followed, I do say was happier for me. But the empty feeling didn't go, it didn't even waver when Axel made me smile a true smile. It was the one smile that had been missing from my face the past few months. And I still felt _empty_. There was nothing that could fill in the void, and I wasn't sure if anything would. But I kept up my facade, to ensure them that I was all right. I didn't want them to worry. If Cloud could get through his mako stage, so could I.

It wasn't until much, much later, like perhaps about another month went by did I start having black outs. At first it only happened like once every two weeks. Then they slowly escalated to about every other day, and it got worse. Sometimes I blacked out in the middle of a conversation with Zexion or Axel. The first time it happened was with Zexion.

We were walking home from buying new clothes for our kids. Then all of a sudden everything went blank in my memory. Later I woke up in my bed with a frantic Axel just about hyperventilating. Quickly I held his hand, calming him down by ghosting soft kisses along his cheeks and neck. Within a good five minutes, Axel was calm and held me close to his chest as if he was afraid to let go.

"You scared me." he told me.

"What happened? I remember talking to Zexion, then nothing." I blinked at him.

"You blacked out. Zexion had to drag both you and the bags and managed to get to Leon's cafe/club for more help." Axel explained to me.

Leon owned a little cafe, the only place Zexion would actually go for coffe in the morning. It was a cute place, and Leon managed to buy it after the battle against the organization. He couldn't decide what to do with the place, so he decided to keep the cafe as is during the day. But by night, it was a night club. Axel and I worked there, we were the main stars. Of course, Leon and Cloud were equally as popular as me and Axel. So, we alternated between weekends. We only showed up at the same time during special holidays, and that was when things got extremely crazy and we wake up with a killing hangover.

"Poor Zexion...he must have had a hard time." I frowned.

"That he did, and as soon as you're walking, you're going to him and thank him for what he did." Axel poked my cheek with an almost pout.

I laughed a little. "All right, silly. You know I'm always polite, compared to you."

Axel looked like he was about to retort, but instead he leaned forward and captured my lips in a soft kiss.

After that, where ever I went, I was followed by at least two people. And as my black outs increased, everyone was becoming so worried they wanted me to stay home and stay off work a while longer. Anger started to replace patience, I felt like I was a fragile glass piece that needed delicate care. I never liked to be treated like a fragile object, especially from the people I cared and loved.

What made me even more angry, was when they told my son without my consent. They told him that I needed some time alone and I was sick. So of course, Xentshi, not one to believe in everything we told him, asked me if I was sick.

"Are ya sick?" Xentshi tilted his head, examining me.

I turned to him. "What gave you that idea?"

"That's what they told me." my son innocently pointed to the group in the kitchen.

Furious, I told Xentshi to go outside and play with Zaixou. I know very well, that the walls of the mansion prevented any loud sound travel to the outside. Without asking, Xentshi nodded and went outside to continue playing with Zaixou. When I made sure Xentshi was well enough outside, I stomped my way into the kitchen.

"Why the hell did you tell my son I was sick!?" I questioned.

The group in the kitchen, Tifa, Cloud, Axel, and Demyx stared at me in shock. Zexion was at his job in the library at the moment. The other four were silent for a moment, unsure what to make of my outrage. Tifa was the first to try and explain when she took a step forward.

"It was so that he won't see you black out and-"

"I am more than capable of telling my son if I'm sick! If I don't want to tell him, then I won't tell. If I tell him, then it's so that he won't catch the cold or the flu. Now you step into my boundaries and tell him that I'm sick!? Last I checked, he has no blood relation to any of you besides Axel!" I shouted at her.

"Roxas, calm down-" Cloud stepped forward.

"I will not calm down! Not when you think you can tell what you want about my health to my son without my consent!" I glared harshly at the older blonde.

They all stood there, silent, for a moment. Demyx looked like he was about to cry, Axel had a face of guilt. The other two averted their gaze away from me, ashamed for what they had done. When no one made a sound, I walked out, still angry at them. So, to get rid of my anger I walked right out of the front door to take a walk. When I was a few feet away from the front door, Demyx showed up behind me, still teary eyed.

"I...I'm sorry. Tifa wanted to give you some peace, she told us about her plan. I didn't think of stopping her and-"

"Demyx, it's fine. You're not at fault." I smiled weakly at him. "I'm sorry I shouted. I felt like she was trying to take my kid away from me, so I over reacted."

He blinked, wiping away the tears that threatened to fall and sniffed. Now less angry than a few minutes before, I offered Demyx a hug. I had noticed he hadn't been hugged in a while, so I did what I thought was best. He grinned and hugged back, almost squeezing the life out of me.

"Ah...Demyx, it would be fun if I wasn't squashed to death." I chuckled lightly.

"Oops! Sorry. Forgot you're short." he let go, still grinning while he ruffled my hair.

"Hey! You're the one who's freakishly tall!" I pouted, swatting away his hand from my hair.

Demyx chuckled, and offered to pay some ice cream. Instantly I followed, nearly begging for him to get me sea salt ice cream. Demyx laughed, grinning madly and promised to buy me the ice cream. But what neither of us knew, was that I was to black out again.

I was taking my first bite of my favorite ice cream. Then, snapshots of my past flashed through my head. First, it was me and Axel at the clock tower, eating ice cream. Xion appeared now and then, but her hood was up everytime. The only time her face was shown in the flashes, was when she turned to face me with a soft smile. Pain shot through my whole body when I saw her face, and it worsened when the next snapshot was Axel leaning in for our first kiss on the clock tower.

I didn't know if I screamed, or if I fell, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. I could barely hear Demyx desperately trying to talk to me, his voice echoed. It was odd to me, and just when I thought the pain wouldn't stop, everything went black.

But the pain was still there.

-----------------

Demyx wailed, picking up the onconcious blonde and ran back to the mansion. He didn't know what to do, but he didn't want to carry Roxas all the way across town to the hospital. Plus, home was closer. Still holding Roxas delicately in his arms, Demyx kicked the door, breaking the lock, and ran inside screaming his lungs off that something was wrong with the unconcious blonde.

Instantly Axel and Cloud were at the wailing blonde's side. Cloud ran back to the kitchen to call in Aerith, while Axel took hold of his precious love to carry him upstares. Demyx followed, unsure what to do other than to at least be of some help to his friend.

"Calm down, Demyx! He's here, so tell me what the hell happened?" Axel snapped, once he carefully set Roxas on their bed.

"W-W-Well...he took his first bite...of sea salt ice cream...th-then he started having a fit...or something. He started screaming, and then h-he fell. He wouldn't st-stop screaming! I-I tried to get his attention, b-but he couldn't hear me...th-then he went quiet...I picked him up and ran here..." Demyx gulped, barely managing to tell what happened.

Axel frowned, glancing at his Roxie and thought. Roxas may be unconcious, but his arms were twitching. The blonde was sweating, a fever breaking out and whimpered every few minutes. Overly scared, Axel gently ran a hand through Roxas' hair. The blonde turned his head to the touch, his whimpers nearly ceased. But a few moments of gasping for air, Roxas turned his head away and whimpered again.

"Damn...Roxie...What's wrong?" Axel cursed lightly, staring at Roxas with watery eyes.

Demyx bit his lower lip, unsure what to do now. The tall blonde was saved when Aerith walked in, nearly out of breath while she carried a medical kit with one hand. She took a minute to breathe in properly, before she stood next to the unconcious blonde's bed. She frowned a little, gently laying a hand over his forehead. Roxas whimpered, but his head remained still while his arms kept twitching.

"Demyx, I need you to go to the library, and get any medical books that you can find. Just, anything about fevers." Aerith ordered softly.

Demyx nodded, quickly running out to the library as fast as he could. Aerith turned to Axel with a guilty expression.

"I'm afraid...for the first time, I don't know what to do. I knew what to do with Cloud, but Roxas is a different situation. His symptoms are different than Cloud's, and this isn't a natural illness he's going through either. It has to be mako related..." the flower girl averted her gaze.

"I...wait! What about Sora? We could find Sora and bring him here! Surely with Sora around, he'll know what's going on. These two have like, a mind link or something because in the last battle, they made expressions as if they were actually talking to each other." Axel explained.

"That can work." Aerith nodded after a pause.

"Um...I'll fetch them...but..." Axel frowned, casting a glance at Roxas.

"Make it fast and you'll be here before he wakes up." Aerith encouraged.

Axel sighed. The redhead gently pulld the blonde's head towards him, leaning forward to softly meet their lips. Roxas stopped whimpering for a moment, long enough when the kiss lasted. When Axel pulled away, the blonde whimpered as if he was a child and his teddy bear was ripped from his arms. Biting his lower lip, Axel turned and left.

It was the hardest thing Axel did in his life.

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Shado: Eh, I kept my promise on posting the first chap of the sequel up sometime in November.

1) Zombie Thing - In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Roxas was called the "zombie" for being so quiet the first few weeks he joined the Organization. I thought that the nickname would lighten up the mood. I hoped it did, because this story would be a bit...sadder than the first. At least for some parts.

Review plz!


	2. Something's Missing

Shado: And thus the story continues. Sorry this took a while, I had an unexpected bad cold during Turkey Week, and now I finally got this done after the stress of making up for two days, that took a whole week. T.T sad I know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 2** Something's Missing

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I groaned, my eyes just barely opened enough to see the owner of the soft hand that was caressing my head. I saw auburn brown hair, and a pink bow. Instantly I knew it was Aerith, she was saying soothing words when I flinched from the bright light above us. I didn't exactly catch what she said, but I knew it was comforting words she always used.

The pain was still there, all over my body. It was so hot, my body was only sweating around my head where the fever hit the hardest. There was a thin sheet of sweat over the rest of my body, but it was almost unnoticable to the point the sweat wasn't there. I groaned again, unsure how my body isn't reacting like it's supposed to. The heat coursing through my veins was unbearable! Why was there such hot, piercing pain flowing through me like it was in my blood? It was as if someone replaced my blood supply with oil and lit a flame within my veins.

"How do you feel?" Aerith asked, now that my hearing had somewhat returned.

"Hot...pain...like my...veins are on...fire..." I gasped out weakly, surprised at my own hoarse voice.

She frowned at me, while her thumb made a small circle around my temple. My strength was weakening, my chest felt like it was filled with stuff you get from the cold, and it hurt to breathe. Even in my state, I couldn't tell if I was wheezing, I wouldn't be surprised if I was. I groaned again, struggling to stay awake.

"Roxas, I'll be right back. I think I have something that may help, but I need to find it. Luckily I left it in Cloud's kitchen a while back." Aerith told me, her thumb rubbing a few more circles before she left.

I watched her leave, everything was still a bit blurry. With the last of my strength, I remained awake as the minutes ticked by. While I laid there, I realized that my arms and legs were shaking, was I having the chills? How could that be, when my veins felt like they were burning? I groaned, trying to brush away my confusion and concentrate on staying awake. It was the least I could do, since whatever Aerith was getting I would have to swallow.

It wasn't until my eyes were just about to close, did I hear the door open. Aerith was by my side again, but this time she wasn't alone. I recognized the face of Demyx, and the blue hair of Zexion standing by the door. I couldn't exactly catch the words they were saying, and it wasn't until I saw that Demyx was holding a book, did I see that he was telling her illnesses that fit my condition.

Aerith tried to tell me something, as she held a clear glass bottle, the liquid was a glowing blue. I gave her a confused look, telling her that I didn't hear her. She seemed to frown, she explained again but my hearing still couldn't catch a single sound. My eyes were just about to cry, I couldn't understand!

Then Zexion stepped forward, using his hands to tell me to watch his lips. I did as told, and read them as he slowly explained.

"This...potion...will...help...your illness...at least...until...they find...out...what's wrong." I repeated, making sure I read him right. They nodded, assuring me that I was right.

Aerith smiled softly, but I could see the worry behind it. Zexion stepped closer and helped me sit up carefully, one hand was on my shoulder and the other on the back of my head. I was so weak, but it was nice to have friends for help. I blinked, when I realized that this position looked like Zexion was trying to hug me, and partially failing. I blinked when Aerith opened the bottle, gently pressing it to my mouth.

Reluctantly I opened my mouth, and swallowed. I coughed at first, she pulled the bottle away so I wouldn't spill any. The taste was disgusting! But it had some odd sweet after taste. But strangely enough, the pain in my chest began to ease, only slightly. And once my breathing had calmed, I willingly opened my mouth enough for another sip.

It was just as disgusting as the fist sip, but I swallowed without having another coughing fit. When I managed to swallow about eight gulps, Aerith pulled the bottle away. Weakly I pulled my arm up to wipe my mouth. I couldn't let Zexion do everything for me anyway.

Slowly and gently, Zexion set me back down in the bed. I gave him an appreciated look, and it turned into a smile when I saw a smile creep on his face. He stepped back to stand next to the door again, while Demyx began reading out loud again, listing any illnesses that seemed to have matched mine. But with each one, Aerith shook her head. She may not know my condition, but she'll know it once she heard the name.

Just when my eyes began to close again, Axel bursted through the door. I blinked, trying to regain some strength to stay awake. A few moments he came in, I noticed a familiar emotion flowing through me from my other. I look up, and grimaced when I saw the unmistakable figure of Sora standing outside the door. I tried to growl, but it ended up with a coughing fit.

I felt his emotion, hurt, and a bit betrayed.

_I came to feel what you're going through. And with me around, you seem stronger. _Sora told me with great difficulty, with my mental walls surrounding me, it was hard for him to reach me through our link. I could tell he's frustrated, he didn't understand why I put up so many walls between us, when technically he's the closest person to me.

The reason behind the amount of walls between us, was built during the time I grew distant. For some reason, it affected my view of my close link of me and Sora. In a way it was so Sora wouldn't feel my feelings, while the other way was that I didn't realize that the walls were up until now.

Biting my lower lip, I glanced at Axel, and at the instant I calmed. He tried to grin at me, while his hand softly caressed my cheek. I weakly smiled back, and the mental walls disappeared. When I realized the mental walls were gone, it was too late. Sora was already in, feeling my emotions and the pain from my condition.

In moments, our minds became one, as I stared blankly at the ceiling, while Sora stared into space. Our thoughts became blank, as we focused on one thing. Before I could stop him, Sora saw the dreams, the dreams of Aqua and Terra. He saw one of the most recent, to the first time I saw them in a dream. The time where they were interacting with me, trying to say my name but I couldn't hear it.

I wanted to scream, scream at him. But I couldn't, our minds were one, and neither of us could do anything until I faint or Sora pulls out, since he has enough strength to do so. I didn't know what was going on in the room, I imagine they're silent, watching for any indication of either of us coming back from just staring unblinkingly into space.

While Sora explored my memories, I explored his. I saw how well Sukai was doing, and how happy he and his parents were on Destiny Islands. I caught a few glimpses of Kairi now and then, probably coming around to say hello or babysitting Sukai. I could see, from the protected walls within me, Sora felt no sense of pain or worry towards me. He seemed really happy the past few years, especially when he had family time with Riku and Sukai.

Then the pain came again. My veins were on fire again, and I was aware enough that I was whimpering. I could tell my breathing was irregular, my chest tightened as if my lungs were being constricted. I wasn't aware I was screaming, until Sora pulled away and our minds became our own again.

I didn't know who's hands that were trying to calm me down, and it didn't seem to matter to me at the time. It wasn't until I finally opened my eyes, did I see that it was Axel who was desperately trying to calm me down. One look into his intense green eyes, and I stilled. Without breaking eye contact, Axel stepped to the side for Aerith to make sure I didn't recieve another symptom from the freak out session seconds before.

My eyes became heavy again. My strength was diminishing too fast. For a moment my eyes closed, trying to ease off the hot pain through out my body. But when I tried to reopen my eyes, the lids were too heavy to lift. With a sigh, I still tried to remain awake. It was harder now, with my eyes closed, silently promising me a chance of relief.

And with a deep breath, I welcomed the warmth of sleep.

Zexion's P.O.V.

I watched as Roxas fell asleep from outside the room. The stench his illness was giving off, it made me feel uncomfortable. My nose wrinkled in protest of the hedious stench. His illness was giving off a horrible smell, it was worse than the stench Demyx gave off when he got the cold last spring.

Refraining a groan, I slipped away from the door frame and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. My stomach called for something to fill it with food. I didn't feel like eating a whole meal, for the stench ruined my appetite. But my stomach was strong enough to consume a small snack. That was enough for me.

As I made my way down, I thought over Roxas' symptoms.

As of now Roxas had a fever of around 104, yet his body wasn't showing it. His face wasn't flushed, he wasn't sweating, even when he was twitching from the effect of the chills. And then there was also another strange symptom, he had trouble hearing when we tried to explain to him about the potion that Aerith gave him earlier. The fever wasn't high enough to affect the brain, so why would he have trouble hearing?

There was something else. The stench. I'm not usually one to complain, but the smell was so strong I'm surprised the others haven't noticed. Ugh. I don't think anyone else would use the scent as a symptom, but from what I've experienced about illnesses, the stronger the stench, the more serious the illness.

And this was definately serious.

I stood there in the kitchen, staring off into space while my hands were on autopilot. I didn't pay attention to what my hands were making, I was so into what was wrong with Roxas. It was very odd, he's only been sick for a few hours, but it's like he's been sick for days if not weeks. Something was very wrong. Very wrong.

With a sigh, my mind concentrated on any books that may give us a clue as to what's going on. For some reason, the stench clicked something in my brain. I couldn't come up with an answer to why the scent was a big clue, but it was enough for me to search in my memories. Again I listed the symptoms.

Stench, fever but no flushed skin, trouble hearing but fever not high enough to affect it, chills, hot searing pain, and having trouble breathing. I knew that there was something else. Something that I had missed. Something that could give us a bigger clue. I wasn't sure how I knew that there had to be another symptom, but it seemed that way right now. Another symptom, but what was it?

I back tracked. Mako. Mako must be the source of this. But how? Roxas was having a completely different intake of the mako than Cloud. That, and Roxas didn't have such an extensive amount of mako compared to the blond swordsman. Could it be Roxas' heart?

My thoughts went to the Roxas-look-a-like five years back. He gave up his heart for Roxas. There must have been something wrong with that heart. It must have been the combination of that mako, the heart, and that figure who looked like Roxas but with a slightly different voice. Something was off though.

That's when it hit me.

The connection between Roxas and Sora.

Quickly I dropped what I was doing and ran upstairs. They heard me, for Axel and Sora stood outside of Roxas' room and the door closed. They probably wanted to know what my rush was. Once I reached them I stopped, gasping for breath from the flight of stairs. They waited patiently, watching me carefully as I caught my breath.

"You...are you able to feel anything from Roxas? Any pain? Anything at all?" I gasped out.

"Not...really. He has mental walls up." Sora frowned, not sure what I'm getting at.

With a groan I shook my head. "Even with mental walls up, did you still feel anything? Anything even if it was the slightest or the softest feeling?"

He thought for a moment. Axel glancec between us, still a bit confused.

"Now that you mention it...usually I do. This time it's different. I feel nothing, not even the slightest emotion or pain." Sora stared at me, his eyes worried.

"What does this mean?" Axel blinked at me.

"I have a theory, there's a book I've read, similiar symptoms to his condition. I have to find it, it's in _our_ library." I gave a small glance at the redhead, who understood immediately.

"No. You're not going alone." he crossed his arms.

"Axel, we have no time! If we argue who's coming with me, it'll be too late for Roxas. I don't know how much time we have left to save him, but I'm not taking any chances." I snarled at him.

"And neither am I. You're important here, maybe if-"

"No! Axel, I know what the book looks like, I can find it. Let me go and find it." I interrupted him, growing a little more irritated by the second.

"But-"

"I'll go with him."

I turned around to see Demyx standing behind me. A frown tugged on my lips, I didn't like this. Not one bit. I like the idea best with one of us staying here to keep an eye with Zaixou. She's so small and fragile, I worry about her everytime I step outside the mansion. With Demyx staying behind, it always put my mind at ease.

"No." I told him.

He pouted. "Zexoin, when's the last time I ever helped you? Please, let me come along. Zaixou would be fine with Xentshi."

"Let him go with you. He's such a klutz, he might injure Roxas or one of the kids when he's running around with a stack of books." Axel added.

A heavy sigh escaped me. My shoulders slumped in defeat. Demyx perked up, grinning from ear to ear. He almost squealed, but with my glare at him he kept it down. Axel grinned, almost as wide as Demy's. Sora tried to grin with them, but from the corner of my eye he seemed a little worried.

"Don't worry, I'm positive you'll still have a connection with him." I assured him. "Demyx, let's go get our cloaks."

"Huh? But I thought Axel threw them out." he tilted his head, following me anyway.

"I saved them. All four of them, just in case we needed them in the future." I started to frown.

My measurements weren't the same as five years ago.

About thirty minutes to an hour later, I stood in front of a mirror. Somehow, after having a baby, and five years later, the cloak still somehow fit snug and comfortable. I was worried around the hip area would cause some discomfort, but it felt fine. After I had Zaixou, my pants had to be bigger around the rim of the waist which irritated me for quite a while. Still does.

But with the cloak, it was as if Zaixou never happened. The leather stretched a little, but not noticable enough for people to stare at me in wonder. With a heavy sigh, I glanced to the grinning love of my life. He looked good as ever in the cloak, even if he gained a few pounds. He still looked sexy enough for me.

"You look good." I commented, trying to hide my growing lust.

"And you look like my Sexy Zexy." his grin widened if possible.

I shook my head. "After all these years, you're still calling me that?"

"You know it turns you on." he teased, leaning closer with a knowing expression.

I took a step back, right now I couldn't give in. We were going on a mission.

"We need to go. Roxas can't wait much longer." I said, gently pulling him along to the living room.

"All right." he followed.

When we reached our destination, Axel, Aerith, and the two kids were there. They were waiting. Subconsciously I squeezed Dem's hand when I saw Zaixou. She had a flower in her hair, she looked so adorable I was afraid of leaving. But a squeeze on my hand and I brushed those thoughts out, Roxas needed all the help he could get now.

"They wanted to give you hugs." the Ancient smiled at us.

I just nodded, letting go of Dem's hand to reach out for Zaixou. She spread her arms out and launched herself at me. Using all of my strength I pulled her up and held onto her. She giggled, she loved to be picked up. A weak smile tugged the corner of my lips.

"Hey Zaixou. Demyx and I will be leaving, we don't know how long we'll take. We're on a mission to find help for Roxas." I told her softly, she wasn't like most children. My daughter was very much like me when it came down to long terms.

"Roxas is sick isn't he? Is that why the house stinks so much?" she made a face.

I blinked. That was a first my daughter referenced to smell.

"You could smell it?" My eyes blinked.

"My nose isn't as strong as yours, but I can still smell it. It stinks! It's worse than when Dad was sick last spring." Zaixiou pouted, obviously hating the scent.

"Well just stay downstairs and occupy your mind. I'm sure it won't affect you like it does me, my nose is too sensitive for it's own good." I would have glared at my nose if I could.

"All right. Be careful ok?" she said as I set her down on her own two feet again.

"You know me, cautious. That doesn't mean you can get to mess around too much all right?" I reminded her.

"You know me, taking care of Xentshi." she smiled.

"Hey!" Xentshi frowned an Axel frown.

"You know you're loved." Zaixou and I said at the same time.

"True." he grinned.

"We need to go. Demyx, if you will?" I turned to him.

"Righto." he said, turning to open a portal.

"Take care." Aerith waved.

"Come back soon." Zaixou waved with a smile.

"Make sure you come back with that book." Axel added.

"We will." Demyx grinned, waving back.

We both turned and stepped into the portal.

* * *

Roxas P.O.V.

I didn't know where I was, or how I got here, all I knew was that when I opened my eyes, I was standing in the rain with my cloak on. It was the only protection I had from the cold rain, which poured down in heavy drops. I stood there, in the middle of the street, just staring what was in front of me. It wasn't much, just a few buildings on each side of the road. But they seemed familiar somehow. Then I realized, I was standing somewhere in Twilight Town.

I knew it rains here in the winter, but not this much. The storm was cold, so very cold against my skin. My body shivered, but not from the cold, but because of the feeling of loneliness. My fever was high, and somehow it kept me warm despite the fact the storm raged heavily on my body. Within minutes the wet rain soaked me, the cloak heavy on my body like armor. My hair was flat on my head, now a dark brown than strawberry blond.

Even with the cold, wet rain soaked closer and closer to my bones, I didn't have the need to panic to find shelter. My instincts told me to wait. Wait for what? I didn't know. Why was I here? Waiting for someone. But who? I guessed I would have to wait and see. Even if it meant standing here in the middle of the street in the cold, heavy rain. I'm sure anyone else would just scream that I was crazy. Maybe I was.

But I didn't feel like pondering the idea right now. I was more worried on who I was waiting for.

Thunder echoed in the clouds above, not too long later lightning cracked and flashed in the heavens. The storm seemed to have picked up in it's rage, as if it was trying to dissuade me from waiting any longer. But I stood where I was, not minding at all about the heavy cloak that seemed to have weighed me down. I felt tempted to take the cloak off, take some of the weight off, but instead I left it on. It was the only clothing besides my pants that protected me.

And the cold, wet rain would get soak right to my bones faster with the cloak off. So I continued to stand there, waiting as the storm raged over my head. It was then, I realized, that maybe I should head to the clock tower. It was a sudden pull, and even with my legs weak, and my cloak and pants heavy, I took a step. Pain shot through me, it felt like stepping on pieces of glass. Even with the shoes on while continuing to walk, the feeling of stepping on glass continued with each step.

Now with the odds against me, I still walked on. The gravitational pull towards the clock tower was strong, so strong that even with all this pain I had to walk. The pull was painful, my chest hurt from both my condition and the gravitational instinct. I had to reach the clock tower, and I hoped that whoever I was waiting for, would remain there. It took me ten minutes, with the added weight on my body and walking uphill wasn't easy. Still, I somehow managed to reach the Station Plaza.

I limped to the middle of the Station Plaza, glancing around through the heavy rain. It was then I saw what I was waiting for. Someone moved inside the Station Plaza, someone very familiar. But by this time I didn't have anymore strength, at least to walk. My legs gave out, and I sat there, unsure how to grasp the person's attention to help me.

"Hey..." my voice was so hoarse, I barely managed a whisper.

My eyelids began to feel weak and heavy. I never anticipated to walk up an agonizing steep hill to the Station Plaza just to catch a glance of someone I was supposed to be waiting for. As my body shivered from the rain, I reached out with my hand. In an instant, Oblivian was summoned into my hand. My arm weakened and collaped to the ground.

_Clank._

That was loud, even with the wet concrete ground that had splotches of puddles.

At in instant, the two figures -when was there two?- stopped in the Station Plaza. They cautiously walked outside, one I couldn't see their face. I could tell by the figure that it was a man, and he wore the Organization cloak with the hood over his head. The other, I nearly cried out. The other figure, it was none other than Aqua. She looked the same in my dreams, only a bit taller and her hair longer, it was down below her shoulders now.

Aqua gasped, she ran to my side, helping me up. I involuntarily leaned against her, my eyes barely able to stay open.

"Ven! Are you all right? I thought you were gone..." Aqua stared at me, momentarily confused.

"I...I'm Rox...as..." I barely managed to say to her.

She blinked. "Roxas?"

I nodded slightly, before glancing up at the stranger. He was tall, with broad shoulders and chest. It was strangely familiar, but with my body so tired and my brain so fuzzy, I couldn't tell who it was. As of now, my keyblade was gone, so my arm didn't have any weight to drag along. I could barely stand, let alone keep my head up to stare at the stranger.

"Do you know each other?" Aqua asked, staring at the stranger.

The cloaked man glanced at her, before staring back at me. I was so weak, the strange man gently raised a hand to my face, softly caressing my cheek. My eyes closed, leaning into the soft touch, something tugged in my chest. It was like a warning, almost, but I didn't know what for.

"Roxas?" Aqua's voice was fading.

The last thing I remembered was the soft hand still affectionately caressing my cheek.

A few minutes later something soft met my lips.

Slowly I drifted from my warm, fuzzy slumber. The sheets around me were soft, and by the weight on top of me I could feel that I had a lot of blankets. My eyelids were heavy, so even though I was awake, I couldn't fully grasp where I was. The event in the rain, was slowly coming back. It was so odd, because I was sure that I felt Axel's soft lips on mine before I lost consciousness. And the pain, the hot searing pain was no longer there.

I felt a hand gently brushed away my bangs, feeling my temperature. I nearly winced on how cold the hand felt. Then again, I still had a fever. At first, I thought it was Aerith. Then I remembered that I met Aqua, at Twilight Town of all places, with a somewhat familiar cloaked stranger.

My eyelids were still heavy, and my vision was blurry when I tried to open them. The hand was on my cheek again, the affection was evident. The tug in my chest made me gasp, I remembered the same tug last time. It was then I knew, that I was accepting the affection from someone that wasn't from Axel. My chest hurt from the realization, and even though my eyes were barely open, the tears fell.

"Ax...el..."

The hand paused, the owner of the hand grew tense.

"Axel...oh my god...what am I doing?!" I wailed and sat up, even if I was weak, it didn't matter at the moment.

At in instant Aqua was at my bedside, trying to set me back down while the stranger gently ran his hand through my hair.

"Roxas, it's ok, we're taking care of you. When you've healed, we'll help you get home." Aqua reassured.

I whimpered. "No...Axel..."

"Who's Axel, sweetie?" Aqua frowned at me.

"He...my boyfriend...Axel..." I cried, and felt the hand reluctantly pulled away from my hair.

"Allow us to take care of you, and you'll see your boyfriend soon." she assured, gently resting her hand over my forehead.

Her hand reminded me of Aerith. I wasn't sure if it was right, being here. I didn't know how I got my cloak on, or how or why I left the mansion. I wasn't supposed to be here! The word mansion rang a bell in my head. Mansion. The mansion in Twilight Town! Namine left Hollow Bastion a few years back to return to the mansion in Twilight Town.

I decided then that when I'm less sick, I'll sneak out and rush to Namine for help. It's not like I don't trust Aqua, but there was something odd about this situation. The stranger in the cloak, I couldn't at all tell who he was. Something about him was familiar, it was as if his identity was trying to keep itself unknown to me. And no matter what there was a nagging feeling that made me just reach out and pull the hood off.

But there was a stronger instinct, which told me to never awknowledge the Organization imposter. There was a fear, a fear that destroyed my curiosity on the face of the man. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes. My slightly enhanced hearing told me Aqua was still in the room, most likely staying by my side until I fell asleep.

And sleep I welcomed.

* * *

Shado: And there ya go. The second chap.

So, what's gonna happen to Roxas? Who's the Organizaion imposter/stranger? And what's Aqua doing in Twilight Town? Would Zexion find the book he needs to figure out Roxas' condition?

-Sigh- So many questions, so little time.

Review plz!


	3. The Lost

Shado: I had hoped to update this on Christmas Day, to make this special for making you guys wait for so long, but I got so caught up playing KH, after some years of being a fan of KH, I finally got the game! Then again, I didn't have enough money until over the summer to get myself a ps2, and no matter where I went in town I couldn't find either KH or KH2. So I decided to put them on the list, and I'll just buy KH2 online with my own money.

So, after some waiting, here's chapter three!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 3** The Lost

* * *

Sora's P.O.V.

It was around midnight or so, when Aerith raised the alarm. She ran down the hallways of the mansion, waking everyone up with a loud knock on the door. I groaned and stayed in bed, man I was tired. I didn't want to get up. Combining my mind with Roxas' into one was not the best idea. I managed to find out a few things, but nothing that was of much help. That and combining our minds drained energy from who ever initiated it.

Then Aerith came in, shaking me. Instinctively I swatted her away, while at the same time pulling the pillow over my head. I was tired! I felt a different pair of hands grab hold of my shoulders and pulled me off the bed. With a yelp I struggled with who ever held me to the cold floor. Damn it was cold!

"Hey! I was trying to sleep! Initiating my mind to be one with Roxas drained my energy!" I kicked, only to ram my foot at the bed.

"Ow my foot!"

"Sora, if you just calm down then you won't get another foot injury." Cloud scowled.

I sniffed and looked up, instantly blushing. To think, Cloud Strife, who was like an older brother to me, was holding me like a small child. Gah! I'm not child anymore! Cloud swatted my head when he noticed my pout.

"And no pouting. We're in a serious situation right now." he said, pulling me up to stand.

"All right all right." I yawned. "So, what's wrong?"

"Roxas is missing." Cloud stated, turning to leave my room.

I stared after him. It took around five or so seconds to realize what he had said. Oh noes! Roxas is missing?! When or how did that happen?! Quickly I tried to run after Cloud, accidently tripping over my slightly too big pajama bottoms. They weren't mine, they originally belonged to Cloud, his size was the closest to mine so he gave me some of his night clothes.

Anyone who was in the hallway at the time snickered at me as I laid face down on the floor twitching. Cloud stopped halfway through the hallway, turned to my direction and shook his head. My left hand twitched, as I laid there face down. Luckily it wasn't my nose that made the first contact with the floor, but my forehead must have taken some brain damage.

"C'mon Sora, I'm sure you didn't take _that_ much brain damage." Leon chuckled as he pulled me up.

My legs struggled to remain upright, my knees buckling. A bit disoriented, I stumbled and grabbed hold of Leon's arm before landing on my bottom. Within minutes Cloud and Aerith were by my side, waving their hands in front of me. My hand still gripped Leon's arm, I didn't want to let go. Axel came by, unsure what to make of this situation. Everything was so blurry, it hurt my eyes to stare at something longer than a minute.

"Sora? Can you hear me?" Aerith frowned at me.

_That doesn't sound like Aerith..._ I thought.

I sniffed, blinking up at her. My vision saw a different face, one of the faces that Roxas dreamed about in the past five years or so. I realized that the face was the keyblade wielder Aqua, staring at me with a worried expression. She was sort of kneeling before me, her shoulders slouched so she was eye level with me.

"Hey, kid, what's wrong?"

_Kid!? I'm not a kid!_ I wanted to shout.

I looked to my right, then stared up at where Leon was. Only it wasn't Leon's face, I thought it was, but a closer look and I realized it was the other keyblade wielder Roxas dreampt about. Terra I think? Yea that sounded about right. He looked annoyed, as if he didn't want to know what was wrong with me. Wincing, I averted my gaze to the floor. Wait...

Was that _sand_?

My head glanced all around me, instantly recognizing Destiny Islands. How did I get here? And why was everything taller than I remembered? I glanced at my hands, they were smaller, and more childish. It was as if time turned back, and I was a little kid again.

"Hey, Sora, snap out of it. You're fine."

_That sounds like Roxas!_ My head snapped up to stare at my other.

I blinked. Something was off about him. It was his face, his voice, his eyes, but not the _same _aura around him. Roxas was always the cautious one, he was the complete opposite of me. This face, he seemed a little more cheerful with that soft smile. It wasn't Roxas' smile. Their smiles weren't even close to match.

"Who...are you?" I tilted my head.

"You don't remember?" the Roxas clone blinked, confused.

"You...look familiar...I can't place a name." I stared into his eyes.

His eyes were softer than my other's. They were the same shade of deep ocean blue, but his was calm and clear. Roxas however, his eyes were the tides of the ocean that wanted you to stay away. This face wasn't Roxas, but I knew somehow this face was the original. But Roxas came from me, he's my nobody!

"My name is..."

_Huh?_

"I can't hear you." I blinked.

"It's..."

_What?_

"Say that again?" I frowned, cupping a hand behind one of my ears.

"..." his mouth moved, but no sound came out.

_Um..._

"I still don't know..." I shook my head, still frowning.

His expression saddened, he must have felt a bit left out. I glanced at the other two, but they weren't there. Everything around us faded, I couldn't even feel the soft sand that I was sitting on previously. Blinking away my shock, I stood up. Now I was somehow back to my normal height, just an inch or two higher than this familiar face.

As I stared, I realized his expression was almost cold, with a hint of guilt within his eyes. It was so unexpected I nearly jumped when our eyes met. The aura around him, was no longer cheerful, it was locked up guilt. He seemed frightened, like Sukai was when he got scared of something. Instinctively I reached out with my hand, he took a step back.

"Don't. You touch me, you'll loose him." he averted his gaze.

"Who?"

"Roxas." he stared back into my eyes.

I stared back. "So I was right...you're not him."

"You of all should see the difference between me and him." he smiled weakly.

"Why are you here?" I asked as calmly as I could, my body was shaking.

"I want you to save Roxas. I can only do so much to help him, but it won't be enough. Please, help me save him." he pleaded.

"I will. But I'm going to need more information to be of some help." I nodded.

"My...friends, they want me back. But to get me back, they have to get rid of Roxas. I can't allow it. I gave my heart up for him, just like how I gave up my soul for you. If Roxas is destroyed, you grow weaker as days pass. Soon you would become very sick, and your illness worsens each day. You wouldn't survive the first month." he whispered, his eyes watered up.

"How can I help?"

"Find him. Use your connection with him to locate him. I will do everything I can to keep him away from my friends. I won't hold them away for long, about three weeks is the longest I could give." he explained, clutching his shirt as if he was in pain.

"Are you all right?"

"I need...to go...he's waking up." he panted, kneeling over.

"Wait, your name!" I reached towards him, he was fading away.

"You'll...find out...soon enough." he smiled weakly, before fading away completely.

"No!" I shouted, nearly jumping forward.

"Sora!"

I openly whimpered, blinking. I was sitting in the hallway again, everyone was standing around or close to me in concern. Glancing around, my body was shivering. From what, I didn't know. It must have been fear, but I didn't know what it was caused from. Maybe it had something to do with a past-Roxas-ghost telling me my future if I didn't find my other. Darn it! I'm too young to die!

"What happened? You started talking nonsense, you didn't respond to anything we said or did." Leon crossed his arms.

"I..."

"You were contacted, weren't you?" Aerith tilted her head at me.

I nodded.

"By who?" Axel took a step forward.

"I don't know. He...looked like Roxas...but he wasn't Roxas. I think I met him, somewhere in the past. But I don't remember." I shrugged, a small frown formed on my face.

"Must have been when you were very little, when you're too young to remember much of anything." Aerith stood up.

"We have to find Roxas. He warned me that Roxas will be destroyed, then my death would follow a month later. He says that it's his friends, Aqua and Terra, that were trying to bring him back by destroying Roxas." I explained.

Everyone stared. I said it so bluntly, that they stared at me confused for a few moments. I guess I should have said it a little nicer, but we have so little time. Three weeks goes by fast around here, we needed all the time we have.

"How long do we have?" Axel stepped closer, crossing his arms.

"Three weeks at the most."

The redhead scowled, averting his gaze elsewhere. I wanted to tell him that we'll find Roxas, but with everyone crowding around me it was hard to focus on just one person. Leon motioned Cloud closer, asking him what we should do. The blond thought for a moment, before glancing at me.

"Still enough time. Sora, you go back to Destiny Islands, you're going to search from world to world with Riku. Axel, you round up anyone from the Organization that want to help us in our search. Leon and I will continue our search here in Hollow Bastion. Zexion and Demyx could join the search of different worlds when they get back with that journal." Cloud organized the plan.

Everyone scattered into motion, Axel quickly headed to the door, most likely to find Marluxia's flower shop in town. Leon and Cloud went to find a map in the spare rooms of Hollow Bastion for a better look around the places they haven't checked yet. Aerith was leading the children to their rooms, a hand behind their backs. I jumped up.

"What about Sukai? Kairi is off on vacation on a different island, I can't call her up and ruin it by making her babysit Sukai!" I exclaimed.

"Oh calm down, bring Sukai here and I'll watch over him." Aerith smiled.

I relaxed a little. At least my son wouldn't be so bored here compared to when Kairi had to babysit him. I just hope Xentshi wouldn't get into a fight with Sukai.

"Hey! Sora, go back to Destiny Islands to get Riku!" Leon called at me.

With a yelp I ran downstairs, my keyblade appeared in hand to activate the Gummy Ship. When I stood outside, I glanced back. I sighed, and turned back to the Gummy Ship.

Zexion's P.O.V.

The moment I arrived in what used to be our castle, my nose picked up an unfamiliar scent. Holding back a growl, I instantly used my illusions to change our faces and voices to anyone who happened to walk onto us. Demyx glanced at me, tilting his head.

"This place is being occupied. Our faces and voices changed. I'm Xion, you're Saix." I whispered.

"What!? I have to be the puppy!? You know I'm horrible at acting, love." he frowned, leaning over me.

"I know, but they might not know the Organization. You don't have to be exactly like Saix, just don't be yourself all the way." I whispered softly, leading the way to the library.

I didn't like Saix, and I wasn't a big fan with Xion either. My nose told me she was empty, from day one. Later it was learned she was a doll that took form of anyone depending who was staring at her. I should have warned Roxas and Axel about her scent, but they got too attatched to her. In the end, Roxas had to destroy her. He nearly lost himself after that. It was as if he lost a part of his soul, if Nobodies had souls. That theory was still classified as '_Precautionary_'.

As we closed in at our destination, I realized that something was following us. I stopped, glancing around cautiously. I couldn't tell whether it was male or female, the scent was strange. It was a bit vile, yet familiar somehow. Too familiar. Demyx widened his feet into a fighting stance, ready for his weapon for any given moment of a fight. He knew when I stopped in the middle of a mission, it was when we're in danger.

I turned, nearly screamed when something glided towards me. Demyx pulled me out of the way as it darted past us. We watched as it stopped and stood five feet away from us. I couldn't help but stare at the creature before us. It must have been human at one time, the way it was shaped. But the skin was black from burial soil, rotting away from decomposition. I was surprised I didn't hunch over and spew my guts out.

But I continued to stare at it, despite my instincts telling me to run. It had armor covered from head to toe, once glorious somewhere in the past. Now it was covered in dirt, no longer shone with pride but with hatred. I couldn't see the whole face, but it was the worst of the rotted skin. The eyes glowed with a bright red hue to them. Souless. That's what I could tell from the eyes. This creature was a souless human body. It moved, but the soul that once occupied the vessel was no longer there.

"What is that thing?" Demyx stepped back, unsure if he should summon his weapon or not.

I didn't know how to answer, the stench it gave off kept me rooted on the spot.

Then it hit me. The scent. It was the same as Roxas' illness, but in the final stages. My eyes widened, nearly gasping of what was ahead for Roxas. Quickly I took several steps away from the creature before us. Demyx stepped with me, his hands twitching in ready to attack if needed to. It wasn't until my sensitive ears heard a slight _clank _behind us, did I stop backing away. My head whirled around to see another souless creature. With it, stood a female figure with our signature cloak on, hood over her head.

She stared at us, shocked, then tilted her head. My feet were bound to the floor, I knew that if I tried to run, she would attack. The cloaks were the distraction, if I remained still and at least calm, she wouldn't hurt us. Or at least try to. She took a few steps forward, Demyx took a step back. She paused, but ignored him. I remained perfectly still, as she continued to walk towards me.

"Your face..." she whispered, reaching to my hair.

Instincitvely I flinched, stepping back. She tilted her head.

"Why are you scared? Your face is very similiar to someone I know." she said, hands on her side.

"Who are you?" I managed to ask.

"Me? No one special. Just a lonely Nobody in a castle, with no one to talk to but the dead. Then," she smiled. "a woman, came to this castle. She said she needed my help to resurrect someone. She gave me this drawing."

She pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it. She held it out for us to stare. Demyx took another step back while I cringed. The face was unmistakably Roxas. This explained alot of how Roxas got his illness, but how to stop it? I wanted to run, but I knew that if I did we wouldn't get away with enough information to save Roxas.

"You know him, don't you?" she frowned.

"We know his Nobody. Why are you doing this? His Nobody has a family, without him, his family would fall apart." I stated, just about ready to run.

I knew what I said was true. Everything that happened five years ago, our family, living under the same roof, it all had a connection. That connection was Roxas. Not just Roxas, but Sora too. Without either of them, everything would fall apart. Axel would be lost, Xentshi would have to grow up in a different family. I would probably take in Xentshi, but he's so destructive I would always be scared for my daughter's safety. The mansion would be lonely like it was before we all moved in for our safety from the Organization.

Her frown deepened a little. "Then you're here to look for an answer."

"Could you elaborate for us then? We were just on our way to the library." Demys stated. "We'd much appreciate it if you explain a few things."

She tilted her head. "If it makes you feel any better. As you can guess, I have the power to resurrect the dead, but not without a price. Most come back without a soul, like these two." she motioned the two armored beings. "But, if it's a strong soul, they come back. Like the soul of the person I just showed you."

"Is there any way to reverse the resurrection?" Demyx frowned.

She shrugged. "I never learned how. There maybe a way, but I wouldn't know."

I casted a glance at my love, he stared back with worried expression. Something told me that this female Nobody wasn't telling us everything she knew. The way her voice described how she wouldn't know, didn't sound too convincing to me. Apparently it didn't feel right with Demyx either. That concluded my suspicions, she doesn't want to help us.

"Well then, we'd better get going." I cleared my throat.

We turned to leave, when suddenly the two Souless crossed our path. Demyx summoned his weapon, ready to use his Water Clones on them. My hand twitched, and Xion's keyblade came to me in a flash. I turned and stood back to back with Demyx, him holding his ground against he Souless, while I faced the female.

What surprised me was her weapon. Or should I say _weapons_? In her hands was a scythe, dark with black and purple colors. It wasn't straight, it was curved like Marluxia's, but instead of one blade the scythe had two blades on each side. The front end was, naturally, longer than the one in the back. The blades were faced opposite from each other. My nose wrinkled at the stench of blood that stained the two blades a deep crimson. She swung it in a circle, and I knew that this scythe was a very deadly weapon indeed.

Curved around her shoulder was a bow, which struck me as odd. Instead of dark and deadly, it was the complete opposite. The wood was white, with gold designs of leaves and vines covering from one end to the other. The bow was nearly half the size of the scythe, making it the biggest bow I've ever seen. Strapped behind the bow was her arrows, golden feathers at the end of each one.

Her weapons were so shockingly different, and the complete opposite, I wondered for a brief moment if she had the power of both life and death. It was only natural to see it that way, her scythe looked like it was crafted by the Devil himself, while the bow and arrows carved from a Goddess.

"I can't let you leave, now that you know what I'm able to do. You see, many people sought for my power when I had a heart. Now that I'm a Nobody, who knows how many would want to control and use me when word of this gets out." she hissed.

I glared. "We won't spread rumors about you, we just want to save Roxas! We'll leave you alone, you can trust us!"

"Too late." she growled.

Everything sprung into chaos. The two Souless leaped at Demyx, he managed to block them with his Water Clones. His sitar hummed as he continued to keep the clones alive in a dance, surrounding us as an army wall. Maneuvering my way around them, I lunged toward the female. She swung her scythe in a circle in an attempt to swipe me with both ends.

I blocked with the keyblade, stopping her movement for a second. She was fast, and she parried away from me. But that one second was enough time for me to knock the wind out of her with my weapon. She gulped in air, stumbling backwards but managed to keep her footing. Not giving her the chance to recover, I jumped and aimed for her ribs.

She ducked, my keyblade barely scraping the feathers of her arrows. Using the back blade, she twirled her scythe towards my unprotected stomach.

"Look out!" Demyx called out, distracted for a moment.

I managed to flip a sumersault in midair, but it wasn't enough to avoid the blade. Pain shot through my veins from my left side. Gasping, I landed on my feet with one hand clutching the now bleeding wound. Damn this pain, she must have hit somewhere close to my liver or an important artery.

She smirked. Demyx growled, summoning more Water Clones. These new clones leaped forward to attack the female Nobody. Her smirk turned into a frown, dodging the clones. Within a few minutes, she somehow destroyed all of the water clones in three minutes flat.

Stunned, Demyx stood planted where he was and unable to comprehend what just happened. I screamed at him to run, while I tried to reach him. The female stood in my way, ready to strike me with her two bladed scythe. Growling, I stood my ground and continued to scream at Demyx.

"Run you fool! Run!"

"But..." he just about cried.

"I SAID RUN DAMN IT!" I wasn't taking no for an answer.

He bit his lower lip, before opening a portal and ran through it. Confused, the female Nobody stared as the portal started to close. With her and the Souless distracted, I silently opened a portal of my own. I didn't know where Demyx ran to, but I had to reach the library. Quickly I went through and made it disappear before she turned around.

When I walked through the opening, I found myself in the column that I knew the journal was in. Keeping the blood stained hand over my wound, I kept my other by my side, ready to summon the keyblade if needed. I had to keep at least one hand clean, so that the journal didn't get ruined when I pulled it out of the shelf.

As I reached the end of the column, my eyes scanned for any sign of the black little book with white hearts on each corner. Most of these books were tall and thick, while what I was looking for was small and somewhat thin. I caught the spine of something similiar, and reached towards it with my clean hand.

Gently as I could, I pulled the book out of the shelf and checked the cover. A sigh of relief escaped from me, as the white hearts stared back at me. Quickly I put the journal in my pocket, and just when I was about to open a portal something attacked me from behind. Screaming I fell, still covering my wound. Gasping, I strained to glance over my shoulder to see a Souless standing over me.

It stared back. It was probably ordered to keep me in the castle until she found us. Slowly I pushed myself up, legs trembling as I stood. The impact did some real damage on me, I couldn't give the Souless a proper fight with my keyblade. So instead I willed my magic, and threw three fireballs at it.

The creature was stunned by the counterattack, it didn't have time to move away or block. The three fireballs hit their mark, setting the Souless on fire. It's shriek echoed in the library, and possibly throughout the castle too. Quickly I opened a portal, stumbling through it and closing it before the thing could comprehend what it just saw.

The escape was sudden, I didn't have time to will the portal to take me a different world. All I knew that I was heading to some other world, away from what used to be our castle. As I reached the end of the black corridor, I stumbled and fell through the opening. The wound was still bleeding, and my back hurt like hell.

I feel onto something hard, it felt like bricks. The cold ground was wet, rain dropping over me. Barely able to keep my eyes open, I tried to make sense of my surroundings. I saw something what looked like a red pillar in front of me. Beyond the red pillar were what seemed to be a large forest, bamboo trees here and there. Knacking my head for what little infmoration I had, I tried to think of where exactly I was.

All that came up was that I was on a road, in the rain, next to a forest, and a red pillar next to me. I groaned in both annoyance and pain. The damn wound won't stop bleeding, and I was sure that the impact on my back broke a few ribs if not discs. It hurt so much, I cried. It was probably the first time I cried in five years. I never cried, until the day of Zaixou's birth I never did.

And now it was unbearable. I couldn't move, everthing in my body hurt. Still somehow I managed to raise my head to scream. I didn't know why I screamed, but there was nothing else I could do. My voice was mixed with Xion's, my illusions was fading a little. In the end it sounded more like Xion's scream than of my own, her voice was a much higher pitch than mine.

Then I stopped. I was too weak to continue screaming at the wilderness around me. My head fell back to the black bricks. The tears fell and mixed with the raindrops, I couldn't hold back the pitiful whimpers from my throat. It hurt so much, I needed help. But how can I call for help? I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, and no idea what world I was in.

Just when I could barely keep myself awake, I felt something. I felt through the bricks that something was coming towards me from behind. As it drew near, I heard the clattering of hooves of what was maybe two horses cantering towards me. They were about a good two feet away form me when they stopped. I didn't have the strength to raise my head to glance at the two riders who stepped down from their horses.

My pitiful crying didn't cease when one of them kneeled before me. By now my illusions were no longer in affect. As I lay on my wounded side, my uncovered eye was barely registering the face next to mine. It looked like a woman, with black hair cut just below her chin. Just when I felt relieved, I heard a sword being drawn.

I visibly flinched. She stood up, frantic over something. I couldn't hear what they were saying, I was too close to pass out. As I closed my eyes, only one thought crossed my mind.

Goodbye, Demyx.

* * *

Shado: ...Um...I can explain...actually, I can just show you in the next chap on what happened to Zexion. Meanwhile, try to guess what world he landed on! I gave some major hints there, so uh, just guess! Maybe that would distract you guys from throwing rocks at me for this chap! *bows* Ehehe...plz don't kill me.

Review plz!


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